Gabriele D'Annunzio

Gabriele D'Annunzio (12 March 1863-1 March 1938) was an Italian nationalist poet and politician who served in the Chamber of Deputies from 1897 to 1900 and as Duce of Carnaro (in Dalmatia) from 1919 to 1920. D'Annunzio is arguably best known for his takeover of the port of Fiume (Rijeka, Croatia) after World War I, leading to the rise and fall of the short-lived Free State of Fiume.

Biography
Gabriele D'Annunzio was born on 12 March 1863 in Pescara, Abruzzo, Italy to a wealthy landowning family, and he became a talented writer. During the 1880s, he wrote several short stories, and he would later become one of the most famous writers in Italy. From 1897 to 1900, he served as an independent member of the Chamber of Deputies, and D'Annunzio became an extreme nationalist. Before World War I, he called on Italy to ally with the Entente Powers against the Central Powers, and he volunteered in the Royal Italian Air Force during the war. He lost an eye in a flight accident, and he dropped propaganda leaflets over the capital of Austria-Hungary, Vienna, on 9 August 1918.

In 1919, D'Annunzio led a force of war veterans in seizing the port of Fiume in Dalmatia (present-day Rijeka, Croatia) from Yugoslavia, and the city was ruled by the nationalists for slightly over a year. The Italians signed the Treaty of Rapallo in November 1920 to declare the Free State of Fiume, and D'Annunzio was exiled due to his rejection of the treaty. In 1924, Italy would annex Fiume. D'Annunzio's actions led to the rise of fascism in Italy, and he applauded Benito Mussolini's 1935 invasion of Ethiopia. However, he was an opponent of Benito Mussolini, who switched between leftism and fascism throughout his career. D'Annunzio died in 1938, having warned Mussolini against joining the Axis Powers; in 1944, Mussolini admitted his error in ignoring D'Annunzio.